SAN ANTONIO — He just turned 17. He still has homework. He just got his drivers license last year. And he's already a professional pool player.
"I played my first pool tournament in Las Vegas at seven years old," said Laz Martinez. "And I won."
Laz Martinez is still attending high school at Cayon in Comal ISD, and he plans to graduate while playing, currently, professional pool.
"I'm the number one ranked seventeen year old in the world, currently," he said. "That's something to be proud about."
Laz started playing pool at the age of six, and he's grown with the game every step of the way of his, still, very young life.
"First started on a miniature pool table and I got older started having more interest in it," he said. "I eventually graduated to a bigger pool table."
Laz told us consistently practicing has been the key to his success, albeit usually working on his game by himself.
"That's probably the number one thing," he said. "It is boring. Nobody likes doing it. Nobody likes hitting balls by themselves, but it is the thing that sets you apart from amateurs."
Laz told us practicing is where he's in his element.
"It is my thing," he said. "I feel that if you do what you do in your own element I feel that is what sets you apart from most. You do you. You do your practice. You do your resume. You do your scheme. That's the most important thing."
Martinez loves the traveling he's been able to do with his pool playing career.
"I love that part of it. I love doing what I do." Laz said his strongest table suit is nine ball, but that he's comfortable playing any game. "I try not to make a mistake. Play my best. Play my game. I do all the fundamentals in practicing. I've seen all the shots one thousand times. I practice these shots all the time."
Nerves or being uncomfortable doesn't bother Laz these days. He's dialed into the moment during competition.
"I never expected to be here, but now here I am doing it as my career," he said. "I'm playing, traveling, doing what I enjoy and I love it!'
Laz said his professional goal is to win the 'World Cup Of Pool'.
"That would be it," he said. "It is the biggest one you could possibly win. I'd love to win that."